Effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds: Practical advice for teaching staff

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1 Effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds: Professor Marcia Devlin, Open Universities Australia, formerly Deakin University (Lead Institution) Professor Sally Kift, James Cook University, formerly Queensland University of Technology Professor Karen Nelson, Queensland University of Technology Ms Liz Smith, Charles Sturt University Dr Jade McKay, Deakin University

2 Support for the production of this report/publication has been provided by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. The views expressed in this report/publication/ activity do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, and where otherwise noted, all material presented in this document is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence ( The details of the relevant licence conditions are available on the Creative Commons website (accessible using the links provided) as is the full legal code for the CC BY 3.0 AU licence ( Requests and inquiries concerning these rights should be addressed to: Office for Learning and Teaching Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education GPO Box 9880, Location code N255EL10 Sydney NSW 2001 <learningandteaching@deewr.gov.au> 2012 ISBN (Print) ISBN (Screen)

3 Table of Contents About this guide 1 Bridging sociocultural incongruity 1 An empathic institutional context 2 Key advice for teachers 3 1. Know and respect your students 4 2. Offer your students flexibility, variety and choice 9 3. Make expectations clear, using accessible language Scaffold your students learning Be available and approachable to guide student learning Be a reflective practitioner 24 Project methodology 25 References 26

4 About this guide This resource has been developed as part of a national research project, Effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds: Resources for Australian higher education < This guide provides practical advice about the teaching characteristics and strategies that contribute to the success of students from low socioeconomic status (LSES) and about the ways in which student agency may be enabled. This guide is not intended as a manual for teaching students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, nor does it prescribe how the advice it offers might be implemented. Instead, it offers general, practical advice that has emerged from relevant literature in the field, 26 interviews with academic and professional staff in six universities experienced in the effective teaching and support of LSES students, and 89 interviews with successful LSES students in three universities about what helped them succeed. The guide draws on the voices of staff and students and, through sharing their views, offers broad advice in six areas of teaching that may assist busy teaching staff. We recommend considering the advice and suggestions in this guide within the context of your professional life, discipline and workload. Bridging sociocultural incongruity The project assumes that LSES students are as varied as any other cohort of students and is wary of stereotyping. As part of that way of thinking about these students, the project has developed a distinctive conceptual framework that avoids adopting either a deficit conception of students from LSES backgrounds or a deficit conception of the institutions in which they study. Rather than being the primary responsibility of solely the student or the institution to change to ensure student success, we argue that the adjustments would be most usefully conceptualised as a joint venture toward bridging sociocultural incongruity. The notion of sociocultural incongruence is adopted as a way of conceptualising the differences in cultural and social capital between students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds and the high socioeconomic institutions in which they study. The polarised deficit conceptions commonly resorted to for students and institutions, and the conception of sociocultural incongruence, which challenges these perceived deficits, are outlined below. The first deficit conception: students are the problem The suggestion that university success is primarily the responsibility of individual students can presuppose a level playing field in relation to sociocultural and background characteristics. It can be seductive to think that if non-traditional students are clever enough, or try hard enough, or persevere enough, or believe enough in their own ability, they can engineer their success at university. Devlin (2011) suggests the tacit expectations inherent in university practices are within a sociocultural subset that is peculiar to the upper socioeconomic levels. Unless these implicit expectations are made explicit, they may operate to exclude students from low socioeconomic status who are not familiar with the norms and discourses of universities. 1

5 The second deficit conception: institutions are the problem The other conceptual frame is to problematise the institutions that are responsible for the success and progress of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds. Some suggest that rather than requiring students to fit the existing institutional culture, institutional cultures should be adapted to better fit the needs of an increasingly diverse student body (Zepke and Leach, 2005). Other authors suggest that: there are situational and dispositional barriers created by institutional inflexibility (Billingham, 2009) the role of the educational institution itself in creating and perpetuating inequalities should be taken into account (Tett, 2004, p. 252) it is unfair to expect the burden of change to fall solely on the students and institutions should make changes (Bamber and Tett, 2001), and universities should make changes in terms of heralding the expectations they have of students (James, Krause and Jenkins, 2010). Devlin (2010) argues that to genuinely contribute to the success and achievement of non-traditional students, universities need to do much more than spell out their expectations for student involvement in learning. The sociocultural conception: incongruence must be bridged The project proposes a conceptual framework of sociocultural incongruence to describe the circumstances in which students from low socioeconomic status attempt to engage with the particular sociocultural discourses, tacit expectations and norms of higher education. Murphy s (2009) UK study of factors affecting the progress, achievement and outcomes of new students to a particular degree program found a number of characteristics specific to the institution and to individual students that promote progression and achievement. These factors enable the incongruence between students and institutions to be bridged. Hence bridging sociocultural incongruity. An empathic institutional context We argue that sociocultural incongruity can be bridged through the provision of an empathic institutional context that: values and respects all students encompasses an institution-wide approach that is comprehensive, integrated and coordinated through the curriculum incorporates inclusive learning environments and strategies empowers students by making the implicit, explicit, and focuses on student learning outcomes and success. These characteristics were derived through the project s literature analysis and are supported by the evidence arising from interviews with staff and students conducted as part of this project. Synthesis and analysis of the interview data revealed four key themes to which institutions need to attend to ensure the effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status. The study found that the empathic institutional context: 1. employs inclusive teaching characteristics and strategies 2. enables student agency 3. facilitates life and learning support, and 4. takes into account students financial challenges. This guide presents the key findings that emerged from the study that are of relevance to teachers. The focus of this guide is on the active creation of supportive and inclusive learning environments that enable student agency. The six pieces of advice focus on practical ways that teachers can contribute to the establishment of an empathetic context within and outside the formal learning environment. These practical suggestions are summarised in the list below and further details are provided in the sections that follow. 2

6 Key advice for teachers The key advice to staff teaching students from LSES backgrounds in Australian universities to emerge from this national study is: 1. Know and respect your students Understand LSES students are time poor; communicate with them, embrace and integrate their diversity and enable contributions of their knowledge to everyone s learning. 2. Offer your students flexibility, variety and choice While upholding academic standards, offer LSES students flexibility, choice in assessment and variety in teaching and learning strategies. 3. Make expectations clear, using accessible language Speak and write in plain language to ensure students understand the concepts being taught, your expectations of them and what is required to be a successful student. 4. Scaffold your students learning Take a step-by-step approach to teaching to ensure students build on what they bring to higher education and are taught the particular discourses necessary to succeed. 5. Be available and approachable to guide student learning In addition to being available, be approachable so that students may make use of your expertise and guidance to improve their learning and performance. 6. Be a reflective practitioner Reflect and seek to act on your own reflections, those from peers and feedback from students, to continuously improve your teaching practice and your students learning. 3

7 1. Know and respect your students The first piece of practical advice for those who teach LSES students is to know and respect your students. In order to value all of their students, effective teaching staff know their students, understand their contexts and embrace what their students bring and contribute to higher education. Research clearly demonstrates the importance to students of feeling valued and respected (Grabau 1999; Midobuche 1999) and the impact this has on the development of a greater sense of belonging and a positive self-concept (Midobuche 1999). A significant part of valuing students and facilitating their success lies in knowing them. Erikson and Strommer (1991) argue that to know how to teach students, we must first understand them. According to Fenty (1997), knowing students and the challenges they are facing while studying improves retention rates and the overall success of students. In line with the research, the clearest finding from the 26 staff interviews conducted for the national study was that staff who effectively teach and support LSES students value and respect their students. As one staff member interviewed for the project put it: I always assume that most of my students have some sort of diversity be that low SES, be that cultural, generational, gender, sexuality, whatever and I think that the main strategy that I use with my students is to actually get to know who they are [COL_009]. Experienced and successful staff felt that part of respecting one s students was providing supplementary support to promote and strengthen a level of resource equity. As one staff member explained: So they re not like my kids that can come home to academics as parents and say Help me with this essay. For many of them they don t have that support network so we have to be that support network for them [COL_025]. Another staff member summed up the importance of knowing, valuing and respecting one s students this way: I think that the best advice I could say to anybody is talk to your students, find out about them, make them feel valued, make them feel important, that their knowledge and skills are as important as anybody else s, and to utilise those skills in particular areas, nothing de-values somebody more than being made to feel like their skills aren t important [COL_011]. Time poverty LSES students are extremely time poor and staff who wish to effectively teach and support these students need to be aware of this factor. The literature shows clearly that as a result of balancing financial pressures, family responsibilities and/or significant hours of employment with study, many LSES students are under greater time constraints than traditional students. The findings from the current project confirmed those in the literature. Both staff and students interviewed referred to the competing pressures facing LSES students. A critical part of knowing one s students is being aware of, and empathic to the impact of, these factors. Staff interviewed commented: a common one is that in an LSES scenario the student has to assume carer duties for other members of their family which typically in a non LSES case that s not necessarily a problem for those students [COL_004]. They re very time poor and so unless this is going to improve their learning outcomes, they re not interested. Unless it s going to make it easier to do that assessment task in a timely way, they re not going to engage in it because they are very time poor [COL_021]. Student interviewees offered insight into the time pressures they are under: You actually have to set aside a really significant portion of your week, in order to succeed at uni, you can t just sort of grab an hour here or there, it doesn t work. You really need to be able to organise your life, so that you have some significant slabs of time to sit down and dedicate to study, and for me, that is three days a week, my son s at school my daughter s at pre-school so I have three days where I have no children between the hours of nine and three, where I just go hammer and tongs, and that is exclusive study time, and I don t let anything else interfere, or interrupt that time [STU_056]. 4

8 This staff member makes clear the impact on study of students being time poor: There s a fair few extensions at the end of semester when all of the assignments are due and they ve got exams they re working, coming to class and then after the family is in bed they study. It s really quite difficult [COL_024]. It is clearly important for staff to be empathic to LSES students seeking extensions and flexibility (as discussed further below). Such requests are not indicative of poor time management or organisation on the part of students, as can often be assumed. Instead, such requests can be necessary for LSES students because of unexpected work, family or carer responsibilities. Getting to know students Knowing your students, perhaps including their names, backgrounds, needs, learning styles and/ or previous experience and/or knowledge, as well as something about their circumstances was recognised by staff as one of the most important factors in the success of LSES students in higher education. Staff explained: It s about individual contact and about understanding where people come from [COL_002]. you ve got to go back to the learner. You ve got to try to understand the learner. I m not necessarily saying you have to fully and totally understand a person, but you need to understand them in terms of the context of that knowledge you re trying to teach them [COL_016]. As one staff member said: you can t be inclusive unless you know your students that is the most important thing [COL_001]. Getting to know your students can be very challenging and particularly so in large classes, across multiple smaller classes and online without any face-to-face contact. Staff interviewed for the project shared some of the techniques they use successfully, despite these challenges. Communicating with students, embracing diversity and enabling contributions from LSES and other students were among the strategies recommended by experienced, effective staff to assist in developing some knowledge and understanding of and respect for students. Each is discussed in turn below. Communicating with students While it may sound obvious to some, staff interviewed as part of the project identified listening to, talking to and communicating with students as key strategies in terms of getting to know one s students. Experienced staff gave the following examples related to listening to students: you need to listen to students. When they are saying things to you, or telling you things, you need to be able to listen to what their stories are, and I think the more you listen to students, and the more they speak up and join in, you can get an overview of their backgrounds, and their weakness [COL_001]. [Make] time to listen to them because sometimes they have personal things that are impacting on their lives that are affecting their learning, so sometimes just listening and knowing them and going, How are you going today? [COL_025]. Students agreed. When asked what had helped them to succeed, students frequently mentioned the importance of communication between teachers and students: Well, one of my lecturers she s absolutely brilliant because she will communicate with students [STU_045]. One student described the impact of a staff member with excellent communication skills: you could answer a question completely wrong and she would not belittle you for it and that in itself is empowering because she won t make you feel like a fool, never. You can go to her with any problem. She will listen. She may not be able to do anything about it, but she will listen. She ll support you if you have a teary eye over something, she is there with a box of tissues. Sometimes she can fix things, sometimes you just need somebody to vent to [STU_084]. Communicating with students in the ways outlined above can seem to be time consuming. Staff noted for their effectiveness in teaching and supporting LSES students believe doing so is ultimately an efficient use of time as issues for students that start small do not end up larger and requiring more staff time and effort because of having been ignored. Experienced staff were also of the view that the effort spent in communicating with students, particularly early on, paid dividends in terms of both student engagement and the quality of learning they experienced. 5

9 Embracing and integrating student diversity Many of the staff interviewed recommended inclusivity and embracing and integrating student diversity in the classroom as both a mechanism for getting to know students and as a way to enhance the curriculum and teaching and the learning of all students. Staff outlined strategies such as varying pedagogical delivery practices and designing engaging learning activities as ways of embracing and integrating student diversity: use as much diversity as possible in your pedagogical practices, because there s all sorts of different learners. Don t presume that groups all learn in certain ways, watch out for generalisations [COL_026]. I think that is probably where the teacher should see their role, rather than as kind of causing learning as in I teach, you learn [instead as] in trying to design learning activities that will help the students to learn and also possibly recognising that there is expertise elsewhere [COL_004]. Students highlighted the importance of teachers recognising the level students are at and embracing the diversity within student cohorts: I think that at the very beginning to have somebody there to say, we understand that this is new for a lot of you but there s no right or wrong way. There s no right or wrong question. The questions are important, because if we don t ask the questions, then we can t help [COL_062]. Some highly experienced staff felt strongly that the deficit conceptions of LSES students commonly held in the sector were erroneous. They argued that all students have contributions to make to curriculum, teaching and learning and that the teacher s role is to enable those contributions as much as possible so that everyone might benefit from the different perceptions, interpretations and experiences in diverse cohorts. Moving from an I-teach-youlearn understanding of teaching and learning to one that recognises that there is expertise elsewhere including among the students can be a difficult and challenging shift for staff to make. It is therefore important that staff make use of professional development opportunities to support them in trying to enhance their teaching. 6

10 Recognising and enabling student contributions Recognising the valuable and unique contribution that students from LSES backgrounds bring to higher education was identified as central to effective teaching of this cohort of students. Making time and space for student to contribute to class is also one time-efficient way for staff to get to know their students and for students to get to know each other. Contrary to some myths that surround the capability of LSES students, LSES student performance is commensurate with or above average. As one staff member interviewed reported: stats have shown in our course that, generally speaking, our low SES students tend to do better. They re slightly better motivated and probably more capable students [COL_014] As another explained in relation to school leaver students: students who came from public high schools tended to do better and last longer and succeed faster have fewer fails in things so progress faster at university, than students who came from private schools or through the religious schools simply because [the public school students] never had the resources handed to them and they always had to fight for everything and they were much more independent learners [COL_013]. One way that teachers might be able to facilitate contributions from LSES students is by integrating the knowledge that the students bring with them to higher education into classroom and online discussions. As mentioned above, this necessitates quite a different approach to one that assumes deficit in LSES students. As one staff member interviewed explained: being able to pull in people s different experiences because they ve come from different areas can actually be really insightful. And when we re talking about developing marketing strategy, it s like we re talking to different groups and we want to know why one group might look at that marketing communication and go That s a lie, that s a joke, whereas another group might look at it and go It s perfectly believable, and it s because of that diversity in their backgrounds. So I m very strongly in favour of people just embracing it and trying to get as many different voices coming into the mix as possible [COL_013]. As another staff member advised: it s a kind of underlying premise I guess, find out what they damn well know before you start battering them. Don t start teaching and expect them to be ignorant. They ll have a rich experience. It mightn t be yours, but spend time finding out what the students know [COL_029]. In terms of how to go about enabling such contributions, one staff member suggested: respectful communication it s about acknowledging students And trying to tap into some little something, you know, some little strength that they might have, some little narrative that they might have that we can all sort of share in in order to build that self worth, if you like, that sense of Well, why is it that they re here? and their contribution is just as valuable [COL_015]. Overall, the advice here points to the underpinning qualities of empathy towards and respect for LSES and all students. 7

11 Suggested strategies Ask for and use student cohort demographics and other available data to begin to understand who your students are at a broad level. As far as possible, learn and use students names. Use some of the myriad of icebreaker techniques available on the web. Review your oral and written communication with students inside and outside formal classes ask yourself how you might be more inclusive. Examine the extent to which you include the student voice and student opinions, views, knowledge and questions in your curricula and classes ask yourself how you might increase the contribution and presence of students. 8

12 2. Offer your students flexibility, variety and choice Both students and teachers saw the provision of flexibility, variety and choice in various aspects of their higher education experience as critical to the overall success of students from LSES backgrounds. The literature on LSES students substantiates the findings of the project that flexibility is a key factor in effectively catering to the learning needs of diverse student cohorts (Yorke and Thomas 2003). Further, students are increasingly demanding flexibility from their institutions (McDonald and Reushle 2002). Staff interviewed were careful to stress their focus on maintaining appropriate standards and the necessity to enable such flexibility, variety and choice in a transparent, fair and equitable manner. As one staff member explained: So to me, to respond to the diverse situations it s about flexibility and responsiveness to a person s situation and thinking about what are the contextual factors around them that are impacting on their ability to meet all the demands of the course [COL_009]. When asked about the ways in which they teach LSES students effectively, another experienced staff member explained: I suppose the first thing that springs to mind is flexibility when I m designing my teaching delivery approaches, I m quite supportive of not requiring students to be in a particular place at a particular time I always tape all my face-to-face lectures the key is to be flexible, so to make that learning environment one that is valuable for students if they re there face-to-face, but also if they re listening online [COL_027]. Staff did not make assumptions about students attending fixed timetabled classes and instead assumed that students might have individual constraints and/or challenges to following traditional attendance patterns and planned flexibility into their teaching. High academic standards A major question that flexibility, variety and choice raises is around the protection of high academic standards. Staff interviewed were united on the need to maintain academic standards and went to great pains to point out that the common assumptions made about LSES students and standards were unfounded. As several staff pointed out: I ve found that the low SES kids that we ve got here are just very determined. They re very smart and determined people and it takes them a couple of years to nut out the system but if you are halfway welcoming, they can do it very quickly [COL_007]. we take students who are low socioeconomic and first in their family to go university and last year and the year before that we had 25 per cent of them graduated with distinction [COL_023]. I had someone who got high distinctions, who came to see me to be better [COL_001]. One teacher offered advice in relation to standards to those teaching and supporting LSES students: I think the first thing I would say is don t make assumptions about the students. Even within any kind of category that you d want to give a student a label, there is a diversity and wealth of experiences within that and what I worry about is that if you have the assumption that students are a particular way, that s how you teach them and I think you should always teach students with the expectation that they can excel and that they are capable and have capacity [COL_008]. Finally, one staff member summed the matter up this way: it s not about dumbing things down it s [about] clarifying the expectations [COL_004]. In terms of how flexibility, variety and choice might be achieved while maintaining appropriate standards, the use of technology, a variety of teaching strategies and choice and flexibility in assessment requirements were suggested. Each is outlined further below. 9

13 Teaching with technology Teaching with technology was seen as an important way in which to provide students from LSES backgrounds with the flexibility they often require. Both staff and students commented on the role of technology in enhancing the higher education experience for LSES students. The careful and thoughtful use of technology offers students the option to study at times and in places that best suit them as they balance a multitude of competing pressures, including paid employment, family commitments and study. In response to questions about what helped their LSES students to learn, staff commented: the recordings have been really popular, even with sort of mature-aged students [who] you would think wouldn t be as keen on technology. We do get a lot of feedback, good feedback that it just provides flexibility, and they can listen as many times as they want [COL_030]. The uploading of lectures with the PowerPoint slides attached to them, I think, has been a big step. I ve had lots of students say that they find that much more involving than reading stuff. Hearing the voice and then seeing the slides at the same time I think the impact of that is still quite strong [COL_002]. Students similarly commented on some of the benefits when teachers used technology: the online interactive presentations They ve been really good I felt that teachers who wanted to use that technology have been probably a little bit more effective [STU_051]. all the online technology was fantastic and the elive sessions, I really enjoyed them because you connected with people and the lecturer about the topic [STU_001]. I have to travel a bit further than most people so if I just have a really short day or something it s really inconvenient so sometimes I just go online. The online module the lectures being recorded [and the] online unit [are] very useful for me. That s what s made uni a bit easier [STU_008]. I think the most important thing is having a large range of resources available to have audio podcast and video and then having the lecturers tutorials a large range of services I can access because I particularly enjoy learning by listening to things. So to have those extra resources which are more catered to me and I can choose to use them. I found that that s beneficial for me [STU_045]. One student articulated the benefits of using technology to plan and organise their study around other commitments and to enhance their learning: that whole online concept, where you can your lecturers, and you nearly feel like you ve got 24-hour access to your learning material [is helpful]. There s even learning material put on a couple of weeks in advance, so if I m on task I can look ahead and see what s coming, and that s the same with the subject outline. You can see what s coming, rather than just being blind, and try to prepare yourself for the semester. I feel like I can lay everything out, I know when my exams are, I know when my assignments are due right from the very beginning, so I can plan everything around the three kids [STU_054]. As teaching with technology becomes more commonplace, it will be important for teaching and support staff to continually review their use of technology to ensure it is inclusive and that it supports a wide range of learning preferences and individual circumstances. A wide range of teaching strategies Employing a wide range of teaching strategies was seen by staff as significant in offering diverse student cohorts variety and catering to different learning needs. Staff commented: I try to provide resources that meet every learning style I think things like that are particularly important, because you need to support in a range of ways, because not everybody learns in the one way [COL_011]. when students first hit university, and may never have had anything to do with university, they don t want to be hit with a whole lot of text, I ve got to read all of this, and I don t know where to go I try to provide resources that meet every learning style [COL_011]. 10

14 As one staff member explained: the resources that I would use in a lecture situation would be references to any kind of popular cultural things that are happening, so you use YouTube, or I use a lot of photos or images in my teaching that represent diversity or the experiences to illustrate any of the kinds of content that I teach [COL_008]. One staff member conceptualised such variety as epistemological equity : I guess you could almost see it as an epistemological equity in some ways because it s meeting students where they re at, it s student-centred, you know if a person s unable to figure out how to use the technology, no problem, let s find something else you know [COL_009]. One warned of the potential barriers when teaching strategies are not carefully considered for diverse student cohorts: you re giving a lecture on a particular topic, which has great meaning perhaps to the audience, and then suddenly, you throw up a graph to illustrate a point, and there are people in the audience who are not particularly au fait with the reading of graphs. So all of the people who are reading the graph have had an understanding of the topic under discussion, when it comes to the presentation of information in certain ways that they re not familiar with, suddenly, their opportunity for learning diminishes. So I think these things need careful consideration any time we re looking at learning [COL_016]. Interactive teaching and learning In particular, interactive teaching and learning was seen by both students and staff as a key strategy to facilitate LSES student success. One staff member pointed to the usefulness of an interactive approach for determining students current level of understanding and to guide their interaction: I use an interactive lecture style too, so What do you think about this? and I ll give them a scenario just to see where they re at. There is no assumed knowledge [COL_024]. Another explained the importance of interactive teaching and the benefits of engaging students: I think that it s much more useful for students to have a conversation evolving around concepts so that they can explore and unpack things that they don t understand as you re going along [COL_027]. Students pointed to the benefits to their learning of interactive strategies in terms of engagement, involvement and concentration: the interactive lectures where they ask questions [and] they might have quizzes throughout the lecture, that s helpful It gives you the time to sort of draw aside and talk with the people next to you or get out your calculator and work out the quiz question or whatever. That s really good as well to get you involved in the lecture rather than just sitting there, falling asleep [STU_010]. I ve found most of the tutorials have been really good where the tutors have been engaging, they ve tried to bring all the students involved in the conversation, which is good for people that are quieter I thought that was good how they try and encourage students to become involved [STU_026]. I like ones that make it a discussion, that are more interactive than just reading the notes, that makes a big difference because it s easier to stay focused when it s a discussion [STU_095]. While there is an argument that interactivity is time consuming and content may need to be cut to accommodate it, the flip side of the argument is that you could cover less content interactively but ensure student engagement and understanding is greater than it would have been through passively listening to a lecture. Arguably, if there is interactivity and it has the benefits to involvement, focus and learning outlined above, students may be motivated to think and learn more about the topic, including outside of class. 11

15 Variety in assessment (mode) An important part of providing flexibility and variety to students from LSES backgrounds is offering different assessment formats. While noting the importance of comparability of modes or formats of assessment, staff pointed to the importance of variety in promoting inclusivity: clearly if you want everyone to feel they belong and are comfortable in the assessment regime, the first thing you have to have is variety of modes [COL_026]. assessment at university relies too much on the formal written word, and on the traditional types of assessments, like essays and reports, and yes, there definitely is a place for those kinds of assessments. But in this changing world, we need to bring in more variety in modes of assessment, so not just a formal essay, but a variety of ways, to meet the diversity of our students as well [COL_012]. Examples of how variety might be achieved were offered: assessment should offer a range of ways in which the students can present their work. So [in] many of the assessments, they have been able to do it online, as a report, as an essay as a collection of interview information [COL_001]. However, not all staff agreed about such flexibility and some thought there might be other approaches. As one explained: I think a little flexibility with assessment that allows students to prepare in advance, even students who don t have the core skills [is acceptable]. I don t think that we should be changing our assessment types if it contributes to the academic rigour of the program, just because it might be an alien way of performing academically for some people. But I do think that working with individuals to build their capacity around those sorts of assessments is probably something that we should give a little bit more thought to [COL_005]. The issue of staging and scaffolding assessment is discussed in some detail below under 4. Scaffold your students learning. Flexibility around assessment due dates As well as variety and/or staging, there is also a clear need for flexibility around assessment due dates at times for LSES students. Both successful LSES students and staff who successfully teach and support LSES students pointed to the need for some flexibility where there was good reason for this. Many LSES students referred to the need to have flexibility in relation to assessment deadlines because of their other responsibilities: I need flexibility because with work arrangements and everything sometimes that all changes and I just need a few days flexibility here or there [STU_036]. The teachers are probably a big help for me, with three kids So at times, they have assisted, whether it be extensions, or special consideration but I definitely think those things have helped me get through. If they weren t available, I don t know what I would ve done [STU_054]. Staff were also explicit in comments about the need for flexibility around assessment deadlines: I think in the university setting there s a constraint in that people have to pass the course so what I try to do with my assessments is to be as flexible as possible especially around due dates, so I tell everybody they need to let me know for whatever reason when they can t meet the due date So for me to respond to the diverse situations that people walk in the door it s about flexibility and responsiveness to a person s situation and thinking about what are the contextual factors around them that are impacting on their ability to meet all the demands of the course [COL_009]. This raises the question of fairness. In terms of fairness, there was no suggestion that extensions, special consideration and the like should be applied differentially to students but that the provisions for flexibility allowed in university policies should be used to assist all students to succeed. 12

16 Strategies Examine your unconscious assumptions about LSES students and challenge yourself about the potential impacts of any biases you might hold. Record your lectures and make recordings and slides/notes available to your students. Explore better use of technology to enable greater inclusivity in your teaching online and faceto-face. Reflect on your preferences in and utilisation of teaching strategies ask yourself how the range of these might be widened to encompass more interaction and a greater range of student learning needs. Reflect on your preferences in assessment practice ask yourself how the range of these might be widened to allow improved learning, without compromising standards. 13

17 3. Make expectations clear, using accessible language Research shows that many LSES students enter higher education with expectations about teachers, teaching assessment and university culture that are disjunctive with the reality of higher education (Roberts 2011; Brooks 2004). The importance of making expectations clear for LSES students in language they understand emerged as a major finding in the present project. Using clear and accessible language with students is a significant part of making expectations apparent. The literature suggests that LSES students often enter higher education without a prior acquaintance with academic language and discourse (Priest 2009). Further, students lack of familiarity and acquaintance with the language of academe can impact on feelings of belonging in higher education (Hutchings 2006). It is, therefore, critical that teachers use clear, accessible language when teaching and supporting students who may be unfamiliar with academic discourse. The clarity necessary can be achieved through a variety of means. In particular, staff and students pointed to both the benefits of thorough explanations of assessment requirements and criteria and the use of accessible language and examples to ensure student understanding. Successful students shared what had helped them to understand and learn and many responses related to having clarity about expectations of them: just clear instructions of what they want from an assessment item. It can be daunting to kind of sit down and write your first five thousand word assignment so definitely a clear structure helps [STU_057]. Because they re the ones marking my assessment it s good to know what they want in the assessments or exams [STU_074]. there are typically hundreds of questions that are then filtered back to the course convenors, and the way that those are then answered, such that everyone can see all of the responses, is critical in demystifying what s being asked of us a lot of the time [STU_056]. Staff members highly experienced in teaching LSES students stressed the need for expectations to be made clear to students in ways they can relate to and understand: if you lay the guidelines out you say, This is what I would like, this is what you can do, they know very clearly what it is you want [COL_001]. they re told to write these essays and they want to see what an essay looks like It s like trying to teach them how to ride a bicycle without the bicycle But if you re teaching something, and if you can show an example of it, the students can see the expectation, they can see the level of what is expected of them [COL_012]. with assessment the students need to understand the criteria sheet, or the rubric, if you like what the lecturer, or what the tutor is looking for. I think it s very difficult for them to do a piece of assessment if they re not clear on the guidelines of what they re supposed to be doing [COL_001]. Experienced higher education teachers are aware of the importance of making expectations clear. However, what is clear to a student who has familiarity with higher education through their family and friends experiences and what is clear for an LSES student who may have little or no familiarity with university study can be quite different. It is critical that accessible language and examples are used with LSES students so that they are not excluded from understanding by the vagueness of academic language. Accessible language and examples Both staff and students identified the use of accessible language and examples as central to LSES student success. The use of these enabled clear understanding of expectations, concepts, ideas and assessment requirements and facilitated higher-level understanding and performance by LSES students. In relation to the importance of the use of accessible, everyday language, students commented: I mean a couple of times I might have listened to lecturers that probably used too many big words so sometimes I didn t understand where they were coming from. So maybe if they can speak in layperson s terms a little bit, that makes it a lot easier [STU_026]. 14

18 I feel like they re using big words and big sentences when they can say the exact same thing in simple language and half the amount of words In other words, What does it actually mean? So I ve had a few teachers that I really couldn t understand and they were just so sort of theoretical that I found myself tuning out which was really difficult and it also can get maximally hard to relate to if they re speaking in really high academic language [STU_035]. Staff concurred with students about the use of complex and obscure language by staff in their comments: students say to me, Our lecturer has given us lectures, and we don t understand their language, what they re saying. They re speaking something like a foreign language, with terms, and different phrases [COL_001]. So these students that I interviewed one of the things that came out is that there would be questions like, Do it with depth. Respond with depth and meaning and they go, What s depth? What do they mean by depth? Or critical analysis and, What s critical? What s analysis? So I think that some of the things that have been challenging for these students is really understanding what the languague [means] [COL_021]. From the students perspective just trying to de code the assessment criteria is an issue. What does that actually mean, because it s not written in plain English. It s not written in English that first year students, or even second and third year students, can understand [COL_012]. The importance of demystifying the content of curriculum and, particularly, the assessment requirements for LSES students cannot be overstated. Current practice in use of high academic language excludes students who are not familiar with that language and puts them at a distinct disadvantage compared to their higher SES peers who are familiar with such language. The challenge is that some academic staff are not aware of their exclusive language use or may believe that it is a sign of intelligence if students understand such language. Of course, it is not it is a sign of familiarity with the language, nothing more. Students from LSES backgrounds should be given the opportunity to become familiar with the language and plain English should be used in the meantime. If nomenclature is needed, it is best to teach it to the students as it is introduced. Real-life examples Students also commented on the benefits of teachers who used real-life examples in their teaching: I do like the ones who are more practical, have a more practical approach they re actually giving, their life examples or speaking about their experiences and I find that more beneficial [STU_037]. And I think with the tutors, they re quite personal, so they ll relate their own experiences, which is really good because you have something to go from rather than it being really abstract They have so many stories, which really helps me put it into the real world kind of context [STU_088]. Students from LSES backgrounds are not alone in appreciating the use of anecdotes, stories and reallife examples in teaching. Like much of the advice offered in this guide, the use of such examples benefits all students and their learning. 15

19 Suggested strategies Record a typical class and review your use of language for jargon, acronyms, complex vocabulary, long sentences, the absence of clear explanations and the like. Ask a small group of volunteer students to listen to this recording and give you feedback about your use of language and your clarity. Ask a colleague from another discipline to critically review your subject guide or other material you give to students for the use of confusing jargon, acronyms, complex vocabulary and the like. Actively practise simplifying your oral and written language and using explanations of greater depth. Try to include a small number of short anecdotes or stories in each class to engage students and help them understand and remember concepts. 16

20 4. Scaffold your students learning The term scaffolded learning takes its name from the idea of a support structure that is gradually removed as the central entity becomes strong enough to stand on its own. Scaffolded learning refers to learning that is tailored to meet student needs, helps students reach their learning goals and provides the necessary degree of support to assist students in their learning. The literature shows that there are good reasons to scaffold the learning of LSES students, related to their confidence and relevant skill level. As Devlin and McKay (2011) report, LSES students can be reluctant to seek support from academic staff with subject-related queries because they are often unsure of the validity of their questions and how staff might respond to their queries (Benson et al. 2009; Lawrence 2005). LSES students can lack confidence and self-esteem, which can in turn affect their choices about seeking support (David et al. 2010; Murphy 2009; Christie et al. 2008; Charlesworth 2004). Further, as Devlin and McKay (2011) point out, LSES students may not be equipped with the skill set that traditional students hold in terms of academic, research, computer, writing and language skills (Kirk 2008; Fitzgibbon and Prior 2006). The academic preparedness for university study of LSES students can sometimes be different to that of traditional students (Murphy 2009; Northedge 2003; Berger 2000). In particular, there can often be a mismatch between their cultural capital and the middle class culture they encounter in higher education (Greenbank 2006, Devlin 2011). Many students interviewed as part of this project reported feeling under-prepared in terms of their academic, research, computer, writing and/ or language skills. Enabling scaffolded learning, that is, explicitly teaching to different levels and using a step-by-step approach toward mastery, was identified by staff as critical in successfully teaching diverse cohorts, particularly those with students from LSES backgrounds who vary in their levels of academic preparedness. As staff explained: I think we have to recognise that all students are at different levels. They re not all at the same level of learning and understanding [COL_001]. Well how I d like to design it is to make sure that it does actually come from where the students are from, so it s flexible enough that they can actually bring in their world but then it actually challenges them to go beyond that so it s always starting from where they are [COL_008]. One staff member explained their approach to scaffolding and the benefit to all students: Well what I try to do is find ways in which I can scaffold the information I try and structure it so that every student has the capacity to look at the task and if they understand it to begin with, then they can move onto the next task some students who are finding it perhaps a little bit more difficult so structuring the task allows them to say Okay, well, I m at this point and I m going to need some help to move into the next one, whereas the other students who are doing better can just go, Yeah well I finished that one, let s move onto the next one. So everybody is sort of still moving [COL_013]. Approaching teaching this way can be challenging for those who are new to teaching and for those who are experienced but have taught using the more traditional approach of preparing one set of content for all students. As university populations in Australia continue to diversify, it will be necessary to teach the students in ways that accommodate all of them, rather than just those who prefer and benefit from a traditional approach. Teaching and learning the discourses Particular academic cultures exist within institutions. They are often understood as dominant and specialist discourses of knowledge, communication and practices. In layperson s terms, the way we do things around here. Students must be given the understanding and tools necessary to understand the university culture and participate in its discourses. As one staff member explained: A good example of that is when you might set an essay task, for example, which requires some degree of reflection on literature. Now, a culturally rich student audience will say, Essay. Yes, I know essays. I know what they are. I ve been doing essays since such-and-such, we learnt how to write an 17